Video Discription |
🔹“Ekantaseva” is a rare Telugu literary poetical work of joint authorship of two poets – Sri. Balantrapu Venkatarao and Sri. Voleti Paarvateesam, with the pen name "Venkatapārvatēshwara Kavulu," first published in 1922.
🔸The theme of “Ekantaseva” is the quest of the individual soul, its longing for union with the beloved, the supreme soul. It is a tale of universal love, the love of each individual soul which is here depicted as the heroine. It depicts the narrative in first person, her spiritual feelings, and experiences, her having had a personal audience with the Lord, His sudden disappearance, her pining for Him in separation, and her commissioning of the cuckoo, the parrot, and the bumble bee as messenger maids to search for the Lord. Then, the quest, and finally the ultimate seizure of the citadel of love in the august presence of the divine Self.
🔹Dr. M Balamuralikrishna (BMK) had the opportunity to study “Ekantaseva” during his very early days in Vijayawada AIR (1950s). He has tuned and rendered five verses from this celebrated work, that demonstrate his internalising the poetry to express the same in an emotionally calibrated rendition. The version presented here is an archival recording of All India Radio Hyderabad.
🔹Dr. B Rajanikanta Rao’s English translation of “Ekantaseva” – Alone with the Spouse Divine, was published in 1980.
📖 Here is an adapted English translation of the five verses rendered by BMK.
1️⃣ Somehow, my nature is enriched with an aura of passion; my thoughts, surcharged with joyousness; the heart, saturated with love sublime; and the body subjected to subtle impulses; perhaps, it’s time to pay the Lord my devotions, and to be all alone with the spouse divine; why don’t you sing, O Koel, dear, raising your gifted heart-enrapturing fifth note? Why don’t you? So that in pitched darkness the fine rays of light show up, the awakened consciousness stirs and gleams in closed eyes, pent up desires sprout on the heart’s firm yard, and the mango-grove leaf-buds of love unfurl in the mind!
2️⃣ As though sandal-wood paste was smeared on the florescent fine body, as though collyrium with camphorate aroma was applied to the eyes, as though a portion of ambrosia has been dropped in the ears, as though drops of honey have been sprayed upon the tongue, and as if, pleasing fragrances have hustled into the nostrils; the sonorous notes of the celestial hours have blended harmoniously with the ringing of bells of the eastern outer-gate; the cluster of colourful beams of soul’s piquancy is absorbed in the magnificent crimson brilliance of the morning; the heap of celestial rays of the son have merged with the glow of the sparkling touch of thought; why don’t you , O Koel, dear?
3️⃣ I thought you came exhausted; and with pity for you, I washed your feet with cool rose-water, pressed them dry with a fragrant napkin, enthroned you on a pedestal of fresh blossoms, offered fruit juice and refreshing drink, smeared sandal-wood paste on your graceful body, made you relish the camphorated nut and betel-leaf; and stood by your side, to relieve you of your fatigue, when I fanned with the whisk of jasmines, are you justified, O Lord of my life, to have gone away, making me lose my senses, throwing dust in my eyes, and spreading your net of illusion?
4️⃣ I placed the garland round your neck, but my eyes did not have their fill of you; I folded my hands and fell at your feet, but my hands were not full with the fullness of service; I stood looking at you like a dumb artless maiden, but never conversed to meet the demands of love; I cherished in my mind, of ever so many things, yet could not express my wish straight; sleep seemed to have overtaken consciousness, mist overcame light in my eyes and my sight; a tornado seemed to be rising in the cloud-clear sky; delusion arose in my devotion and prayers; tremulousness seemed to have infected sound, and there was faltering in my thought and my word; darkness seemed to be discovered in light, forgetfulness corrupted by my mind and consciousness; thinking that enjoyment of happiness is a sacrilege and losing one’s senses a fault, is it proper on your part, O Lord of my soul, to have perpetrated all these false pretences?
5️⃣ Since I do not know your personal predilections, and your preferences for various occasions, what a long time since I secured much to offer you in the western chamber of the chapel of love, at the altar of adoration of exalted passion, crystal clear nectar in a crescent-moon-cup, refreshing honey in a white-lotus-vessel, rice boiled in milk in a bowl of tender-leaf, sweet ripe fruits in a cup of two-fold palm; yet, how can I bear your delay, Lord of my heart?
💐Acknowledgements: My sincere thanks to Sri. N S Sarma of Guntur for curating the audio and for his sharing it for posterity. |